When You Are Asleep
by HiddenCamellia
Summary: RivaMikaJam Prompt#1: Where a half-asleep Mikasa walks into the Corporal's room ;) RivaMikaWeek5 :D
1. When You Are Asleep

**RivaMikaJam #1 Prompt by alienheartattack: A half-asleep Mikasa accidentally walks into Levi's room in the middle of the night instead of her own.**

**Credits/Disclaimers: Prompt by Tumblr user: alienheartattack. The story is developed by me, everything else belongs to their respective creators.**

She was beginning to lose her balance and lightly skim the dark, cold stone walls of the castle – their base – with her slim fingers in an effort to walk in a somewhat straight path to her room. She should have known better than to drink that blood red liquid out of that fancy, miniature glass, regardless of what her Corporal had spouted in encouragement. But Lance Corporal Levi never encouraged, now did he? But he had. He had encouraged her. After years of training that could reincarnate even the softest of souls into hardened soldiers, he had finally handed her a glass full of an unknown substance with a whispered, "You may like this." The rest of the celebration had been a blur to Mikasa since that one line a few hours ago.

And she had liked it. Well, at this stage she was not sure anymore, if she had liked the intoxicant or the intoxicating officer who had handed her the drink and precious words. Hah! That was laughable. What precious words? She was behaving like a little child enamoured with a lustrous object. Surely, the entire Corps felt that anything that was not a curse, to emerge out of the Corporal's mouth must be something of note.

Now her head had started to ache. This evening was quickly turning into a painful nightmare. Her only saving grace was that no one was sober enough to notice her dwindling state and oh! She had reached her room.

The door knob did not require much convincing and the bed was very inviting. She barely took off her belts and her scarf and fell onto the bed – sleep claiming her as it's own and her body welcoming the harsh mattress as the softest of embraces. All it took was one draw of her eyelids for Mikasa to bury her thoughts away and surrender to the night. And surrender she did - hair asunder, defences falling. Had she been paying any attention to her surroundings, Mikasa Ackerman would have been well acquainted with the mortification of walking onto the wrong floor, into the wrong room and completely disregarding the short, quiet figure in the shadows cast by partial moonlight watching her inebriated walk into his territory - the very soul who had been occupying her thoughts mere moments ago.

* * *

Levi had not been expecting an intrusion, much less from _her._ He had not been expecting to be heedlessly ignored as he watched his subordinate struggle with her accessories and fall asleep on his bed. It was frustrating to have company at this late hour, but it was more aggravating to to be defied, although he suspected that the woman in question was not quite aware of his presence. She had seemed not quite in the possession of her senses. He would have to wake her up and command her to stop trespassing into his private space so physically. _The fact that his thoughts had been mercilessly invaded by this young lady and he had been forced to surrender still irked him at times and he could really do without _this.

In her supine posture, Mikasa was the image of a soldier on alert – even in her sleep. But as Levi moved closer to the bed, he noticed that her face still reflected the heart of an uncorrupted soul longing for so much. Much that she could never have. She was aligned on the edge of the bed, looking exhausted and deeply asleep. Levi inched closer and lightly perched on the edge by her thighs. Encasing her with his left hand, he leaned forward, hovering to see her draped eyelids and sensing her breathing patterns – a gentle rise and fall of her breasts.

For once, Lance Corporal Levi wanted to do something that he knew he would regret. Looking at her drying red lips, he wondered what he had wondered countless times. She was asleep and there was not a shadow of a doubt that he would not touch her. So, he relegated himself to asking her what his heart had been seeking an answer to, "What are you doing to me, Miss Ackerman?" Had she woken up at that moment, Corporal Levi was sure to be sporting far more than a limp at her commission. But the darkness of night made people do things that the brightness of day curtained. The pale moonlight awakens the desires of our beings and Levi was not immune to that supernatural force. As he stared at Mikasa, he reminisced his life – the gutters of a city corrupted by greed, a life that she ought not to know of, a darkness that never saw the moonlight. How he had hated it. And yet, here he was yearning for darkness for just a glimpse of her in his dreams – to be entranced by her, even if momentarily.

Remarkably attractive, definitely strong and made of secrets that he wanted to uncover with tender touches and whispered nothings - under the same moonlight where she made him suffer unknowingly, he fancied her being completely confident in him and divulging her fantasies, instead of holding him in contempt and rage like she did now. He fancied her in magic.

A few more minutes – Levi promised himself as he let himself drown in the fairytale that was Mikasa. The next time he blinked, dawn had started to crack. His time in an alternate reality were over and he knew he had to stop chasing this. Stop chasing something he had, finally, desperately wanted.

The breaking dawn stole away Levi's ephemeral dream and he quietly sighed before straightening from his bent pose. The slight strain on his muscle was proof of his growing age (a reminder to never drag along a young thing like her into his life) and of his vain decision of saving up Mikasa's visage; for that is all he could reach out for. So, with a heavy heart and even heavier legs, he stood up and walked out of his room as the Lance Corporal.

She would not find him there.

* * *

Mikasa woke up another hour later – still heavily doused in slumber but with more control over her peripherals. She spotted her scarf and belts and tried to focus her eyes. It was at this very moment that two striking things caught her attention – the room was far bigger than cadet lodgings and the desk, a little ways off had a cup of tea that usually adorned the rough, calloused fingers of one Corporal of the Recon Corps. This enlightenment brought all her senses rushing back to her and she whirled around in panic and dread scrutinizing the room for the said man. Nothing. No one. Just the cold morning air and the rising sun.

She was in his room. Alone. And he was nowhere to be found. Sleep vanquished, a knot tightening in the depths of her being, she forced herself to adapt her stoic mask and gathered her belongings before making her way out of the room. The corridors were empty and so was her floor and her own room. Upon entering which, Mikasa leaned heavily on the door before sliding down to the ground – a new cold welcoming her worked up body. Her head hit the back of the door and she closed her eyes, conjuring up the Corporal. Goodness! What had happened? She had no recollection of the previous night after falling into bed – _his bed. _How was she to face him now?

She hurried through her morning routine and set off to find the Corporal before the other hung over bunch made their ways out of whatever bed they had found last night, surely none as disastrous as her choice. If she was going to be humiliated, she would rather not have an audience.

Stalking along a few of the empty hallways and larger rooms brought her to the kitchen, which is where she found the man in question. Sipping tea, looking tired and staring at the table. Mikasa quietly walked in with a tentative, "Good Morning, Corporal."

Levi looked up, eyes flashing a hint of something which was gone before Mikasa could ascertain it, and replied with nothing more than a nod. She had to be brave. "My apologies, Corporal. I mistook your room for mine last night. It must have inconvenienced you."

Levi stared her down before using his tact, "Forget about it."  
So much for tact. He should have been threatening cryptic chores to this woman at this point, but _that_ is what he could do against Mikasa? Apparently, he wasn't the only one surprised by his reaction. Mikasa looked confounded.

He had just softened down another notch. And she wasn't sure if it was the lack of sleep, the situation at hand or the Corporal actually changing, but something was different about him. She sounded like an obsessed lover and she could not bring herself to change that attitude. So, she ventured, "Would you mind, sir, if I ask why you didn't wake me up?"

Perhaps Levi should have made a list of the punishment-chores so that he wouldn't forget himself in front of her, as was becoming habit, arguably. Perhaps he should have laced together some curses – even randomly and hurled them her way right about now, because what his traitor-tongue did next, was not only outrageous but dangerously courageous. A courage he wished he could rein in.

"You needed the rest."

Eyes slightly enlarged, cheeks dusted a very mild pink, head slightly bent to hide behind the fortress of her scarf, Mikasa stood frozen staring at Levi. And while she was stunned into silence by his concern, he was stupefied by her eyes and their greys shining in the early morning light – staring at him so unabashedly. Although his face did not give anything else away, his eyes never left her. They stared at each other as if this was permissible between them, as if they could function as one, as if they were familiar with each other's intimacies, as if they _knew_.

Wayward footsteps broke their concentration and Mikasa bowed her head slightly before turning and walking out of the room. Just like that, his fairytale was gone once again and Levi stared from her absence to his cup on the table, the tea in which had grown cold.

**A/N: This desperately needs a sequel :-/ Till then, enjoy my dearies! :)**


	2. When You Are Awake

**Credits/Disclaimers: The story is developed by me, everything else belongs to their respective creators. Written for RivaMikaWeek5 (Jul 3rd-10th, 2015).**

_What...what..what had ..what was he...? Why?_

She could not breathe and she could not think straight. All he had done was look into her eyes; he had not moved towards her, not touched her, not confessed his undying love for her – then what the _hell_ was that?! She had flown quite a bit of a distance down some random hallway; it was time to stop, even out her breathing and analyse why exactly she was reverting to her five-year-old self. A self that she had left behind ages ago, literally and a time she could not handle emotionally anymore.

She realised that this was the first time that she had given herself an opportunity to take in the emotions that had been crashing into her barely secure heart. Ever since opening her eyes that morning, Mikasa had done nothing but panic and fiercely attempt to put together the night before, but now that runaway feelings had started to catch up, she was beginning to form one concrete conclusion out of it all – she was far too taken by her Corporal. The ice cold Mikasa Ackerman, did not behave this way.

She would have to go back.

He rinsed out the cup, left it on the counter to dry and walked back to his room. This time free of her. Nothing was out of order. Apart from a few slight creases on the bedsheet, it was difficult to tell that someone other than Levi had been there. The thought almost made him glad. She was a little like him.

And _he _was behaving nothing like himself. What happened to reprimanding her? Assigning stable chores to her? Keeping his harsh front intact? She had been the inebriated one, not him. Then what the _fuck_ was he doing?

The knock on his door cut his self-deprecation short and he commanded a curt "come in" to whichever unfortunate soul had decided to see his face first thing in the morning. Turning to face the door, he found himself looking at the only person he had seen all morning. She was back in his room again. This time; fully conscious.

"My apologies for the mistake again, Corporal."

"Good. Now get out."

Yes. That is the reaction he should have had all along. He was glad that his personality had decided to return after a random leave of absence. So, he latched onto it with all his might.

It took her a moment. She was surprised, but used to the tone. He was back to himself and that, that was...good. At least this way, she could skip the running-away-with-a-blushing-face part and ask him why he hadn't woken her up. She wasn't quite sure why she wanted to dig into this when he was clearly ready to let it go.

"May I ask one question before I leave?"

"No, you may not." He all but snapped. They both knew what she was going to ask, but she seemed a little too keen for someone who had been blushing at the merest words that morning. He regarded her a little cautiously. Why was she so desperate to find out all his inner musings.

Silence. That stretched into a firm nod and salute before Mikasa retreated and left Levi to his own devices. Soon enough the day arrived in full-swing; of hungover cadets, and groans and moans from every corner of the castle. Tomorrow, they would all be back to training and this whole event would soon be forgotten. Levi held onto that one hope - to bury all his thoughts back where they belonged. Maybe a little deeper this time.

But when did planning ever work out?

The knocks on his door were soft but firm. Only two. With his permission to enter, Mikasa walked into the room and stood straight in front of him – impeccable salute and markedly emotionless.

"Yes." That was all Levi replied to the unmistakable question that was her presence. It wasn't a question of a reply; it was a statement, for when did Mikasa Ackerman shy away from anything anymore? The week following her mistaken occupancy of his room had been the hardest on Mikasa, for she had had to hide from the Corporal's eyes till she figured herself out. Levi hadn't minded. It was good for his mental stability. But something had changed over the past couple of days, and Levi was convinced that his mental stability needed props to be held stable. This girl was going to drive him insane!

"Corporal, I would like to know if last week -when I accidentally slipped into your bedroom instead of mine, and used your bed _as my own _– you said something to me while I was asleep?", Mikasa fired with a straight face and practiced ease.

Oh ho. She was getting better at this; using words to provoke him. And she was not in the mood to let it go, it seemed. He was her commanding officer and as petty as the trick was, he was going to have to use it on her.

He set the paper, he was poring into, down and sat back on his chair with arms crossed.

"Do not presume to question your commanding officer so brazenly, Cadet Ackerman. Your audacity is turning into a cause for concern. I believe-"

"-that I need to be disciplined?" She threw in archly. If he was going to punish her, he would have to do better than just threaten.

Levi pursed his lips and held her in an assessing gaze. He broke out of that reverie with a simple, "Stable duty. Alone. Starting now. You are dismissed."

Mikasa stood there with a slight glare till he raised an eyebrow in question. A forced salute and she was gone. He almost sighed and considered taking a nap so that his head and heart would stop hammering his sanity. The determination to not divulge anything to her was taking it's toll. But he would win this, regardless of why she all of a sudden felt the need to know what had or had not happened that night.

* * *

An hour later, Lance Corporal Levi was restless and scared. He had not seen Mikasa ever since ordering her off to the stables and now he was missing her. Ah, hell. If that was not something to be scared of, then the Corporal didn't know what was. Titans, maybe?

With thoughts that hardly made any coherent sense, he stalked off to the stables to find the nemesis of his solitary existence only to find her taking her sweet time dragging out bales of hay from one corner to the other. In her defence, that was work, those things needed to be sorted, but she was capable of doing more than that in the time that had passed.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

She stopped, dropped the bale and turned around to salute. "Following up on your command, Corporal."

"I see that, but you are a more efficient worker. At this pace, you will be here till nightfall." He clarified.

"Would you like to aid then?" Her eyes crinkled slightly and her face glowed at his stunned silence and an obvious emotional turmoil, that he was sure to be trying to rein in.

"Cadet Ackerman-" he started menacingly, only to have Mikasa walk up to him in three long strides and halt a little too close for comfort.

She cut in again. "Corporal, when I asked you two days ago about what had happened that night and again this morning, all I wanted to know was why you didn't wake me up and if perhaps, you had tried and said something. So here is a question, Sir, why have you not answered with a "Why would I say anything" and instead have been trying to get me to stop talking about this?"

Her expression did not betray much, but they both knew that she had a point. And a damn good one at that. How could he have fallen into that trap so easily? He was too busy worrying about his emotions that he did not see hers conquering him. And now they were at the point where Mikasa knew that she had almost won and Mikasa on a streak of victory was not a good sign – she tended to absolutely destroy her opponent.

He would not mind that, but he could not allow that. She shifted again, while he still wondered if saying something would be appropriate, but he was spared. Like a soft breeze that ruffles tree leaves ever so gently and vehemently at the same time, she slid past him with a whisper of "_What would you want to say to me?_"

* * *

**A/N: I need more sequel-ing... sigh!**


End file.
